Here we go again...Iron Maiden sued over the rights of 6 songs

harrisdevot said:
Knowing how stubborn Steve can be (and I love that, don't get me wrong), he must have answered quite badly to MacKay when the idiot first approached him, bearing in mind his ancient hostility to Wilcock. And Mackay turned nuts (a fantastic illustration of how the Internet can turn someone into a crazy idiot).
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Steve had to deal with Barry McKay before Dennis got in the picture, so I think McKay was probably snubbed then (and again now).
 
Forostar said:
This is a different situation. Members A and B are both in the same band and decide (possibly) together who gets which credit. There is optional room for balance in the shares, as you described. Now we have a different situation. There was no communication. The accusation is that member A decides that person X (not in the band) won't get credit. No room for balance.
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I know that it's different. But the helps to set the picture. There is a kind of general rule on how the credits work in the ban (with the Hooks in You exception). Fair or not, I don't know, as this requires to know the extent of the actual contribution.
 
harrisdevot said:
I know that it's different. But the helps to set the picture. There is a kind of general rule on how the credits work in the ban (with the Hooks in You exception). Fair or not, I don't know, as this requires to know the extent of the actual contribution.
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Regarding Hooks in You, I guess they probably registered the songwriting credits before Adrian was fired/encouraged to leave the band.
 
My personal guess has always been that Bruce insisted that they kept the song (to say the least, it wasn't so good that they could do without it) and credited Adrian.
 
harrisdevot said:
My personal guess has always been that Bruce insisted that they kept the song (to say the least, it wasn't so good that they could do without it) and credited Adrian.
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He probably thought "If Steve wants to have a turd like The Assassin' on the album, I also want my turd on it". :lol:
 
harrisdevot said:
I have no doubt personaly that former members did actually contribute to some early songs, although some claims are rather contradictory (e.g. Sanctuary). ).
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Re: Sanctuary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_(Iron_Maiden_song)

"Although the song is credited to Iron Maiden,[1] according to Metal Hammer contributor Dave Ling, the song was originally written by guitarist Rob Angelo, a member of the band in 1977 who was paid £300 for the song's rights.[3] From 1998 onwards, the song was credited to Murray, bassist Steve Harris and singer Paul Di'Anno"

Wiki cites the liner notes to Metal for Muthas as the source of Dave Ling's statement. I can check the cd to see exactly what it says later. While obviously the story of Bob Sawyer being paid off is well known, I'm surprised that Maiden let it be stated in an official release. As far as I remember it was even re-released by Bruce on his Air Raid records label!
 
Sorry for the late response, I've been in Birmingham ( you may be able to work out why :D). Anyway -
Forostar said:
These are your words, aren't they?
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Only partly - McKay's exact words were "It is all very Faustian. He's bought his mansions and shagged his way around the world and enjoyed being the rich and famous rock star and now he has to answer for his actions. I wonder if he also perhaps has a picture in his attic...if he does, God knows what he really looks like. (if you don't understand that it's OW/Dorian Grey (sic))". He also mentions Rod and Andy Taylor treading on people but I added the bit about manical laughter myself since Dorian Gray did a lot of that: ie it was sarcasm.
Forostar said:
The more important question is what do you believe. It's tempting to not believe a thing. Sort of convenient isn't it? The wish is the father of thoughts. Do you believe that (if true) other people deserve a song credit or at least some positive recognition for their contributions?
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I believe that we've got no proof or even evidence either way at the moment. It's all just people saying things so far. But the sheer hatred emanating from McKay's words, and the fact that he's actually admitted he employed someone for five weeks to basically dig for dirt surely demonstrates that he's not acting purely as an impartial representative of a (possibly) wronged party.

I also believe that Steve Harris is a fundamentally decent human being. It was the vicious attack on Steve's character that I was upset about, and that again delivered without any proof or evidence. Throw enough mud and some of it will stick seems to be McKay's campaign plan at the moment. Steve didn't deserve that, whatever happened 40 years ago.
Forostar said:
I don't think you were able to disregard/deny any of the content that was said.
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The actual content is that this is an argument about a few word from 40-plus years ago - describing the songs in question as five "of their biggest-selling hits" is straining my credulity somewhat (from what I can see "Phantom" is the only really significant one, and maybe "Iron Maiden"). Yes if someone we don't know about turns out to have made a significant contribution then they should be credited and if appropriate paid, but I think it would be settled quicker and more fairly if he was straight about the actual scope of the issue, instead of trying to make it about Steve's entire creative output and everything Maiden has subsequently become/achieved. But I'm not sure a swift, fair settlement is what he wants. I think he wants to destroy Steve (and/or Rod). So at the moment he's attempting to try them by (social) media.
Forostar said:
Yes, it all looks pretty nasty. But he and Dennis also had nasty comments.
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Of course they did - they chose to take it to Blabbermouth's comments section. What did they expect??
Forostar said:
It's time to get to the bottom of this. I love Maiden, I love Steve Harris, no matter what happens: he stays my favourite song writer of all time, also if a couple of the songs were co-written with others. But it would be better if these "others" have a credit as well, if they deserve one.
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If wrongs have been done then they should be put right - I never disputed that. There are all sorts of ways this situation could have arisen. But just because a wrong has occured it doesn't follow that it was concious, deliberate or done with malicious intent. McKay seems hell bent on insisting that it was, almost as though he thinks his case depends on it. But he's surely been round this particular block enough times to realise that it doesn't, so what's he really up to?
 
He's small man, that's all.

the fact that he's actually admitted he employed someone for five weeks to basically dig for dirt
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Im curious what we could dig about him and Wilcock.

Anyway - he has no proof if he has to go personal.
 
More posts have appeared on that Blabbermouth article and now we have this from McKay (it's part of a much longer post) -

"I was warned about what could happen before I issued this claim (and yes...it's my claim...Dennis is not suing anyone...I am) but it just had to be done to obtain justice in what is our democractic society."

And a bit further down:

"I wish to point out that Dennis Willcock is NOT SUING ANYONE. This is my case and I am suing Harris and Murray."

Not just the agent anymore then? Interesting!
 
srfc said:
Re: Sanctuary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_(Iron_Maiden_song)

"Although the song is credited to Iron Maiden,[1] according to Metal Hammer contributor Dave Ling, the song was originally written by guitarist Rob Angelo, a member of the band in 1977 who was paid £300 for the song's rights.[3] From 1998 onwards, the song was credited to Murray, bassist Steve Harris and singer Paul Di'Anno"

Wiki cites the liner notes to Metal for Muthas as the source of Dave Ling's statement. I can check the cd to see exactly what it says later. While obviously the story of Bob Sawyer being paid off is well known, I'm surprised that Maiden let it be stated in an official release. As far as I remember it was even re-released by Bruce on his Air Raid records label!
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The liner notes from the CD of Metal for Muthas say nothing of the sort. There's two set's of notes, the original notes from Neal Kay the same as the lp, and a second set of notes, unattributed, which only mentions that Maiden are on the compilation and doesn't specifically say anything about Sanctuary.

I wonder has wiki been edited with the court case in mind???
 
:funnypost:

Though that sounds like McKay stirring up shit about Steve trying to make him look like the bad guy. Steve used to bring his wife and their children out on tour, I doubt there was much opportunity for worldwide hanky-panky when the Mrs was on the bus too.
 
In one of McKays many rambles he said that Steve had "bought his mansions and shagged his way around the world".
 
Black Abyss Babe said:
McKay's exact words were "It is all very Faustian. He's bought his mansions and shagged his way around the world and enjoyed being the rich and famous rock star and now he has to answer for his actions. I wonder if he also perhaps has a picture in his attic...if he does, God knows what he really looks like. (if you don't understand that it's OW/Dorian Grey (sic))".
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Here.
 
Forostar said:
wishes to take the beating himself.
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Anyone who shows up somewhere throwing shit around is asking for a beating.

This behavior only makes sense if McKay/Wilcock have approached Maiden in a civilized manner, with reasonable arguments, and been told to fuck off. So far, I can't see that any real arguments have been put forward by McKay, only accusations and attacks on Harris' character. Even in the Beckett case, where the copying itself was clear-cut, it seemed like McKay's first priority was to paint Harris as a villain. He makes this very personal and that is completely uncalled for, regardless of song credits.
 
I think that McKay might have been one of the candidates to become IM manager, before Rod entered the picture. Maybe they were even thinking of hiring him, but then they met Rod and discarded McKay.

That's the only thing that could upset him so much. And now he wants revenge. Can somebody look into that mattter a bit more?
 
Forostar said:
Another ridiculous comment was that he said that Invaders was a rehash (or remake or whatever) of Invasion. Very different songs.
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I think to call "Invaders" an "Invasion" remake is actually not that far off (considering they basically share the same theme and "Invasion" was never actually used), but a rehash it certainly isn't.
 
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